FIG. 1 shows a housing of an optical adaptor of SC simplex type with a traditional mount plate installed on the housing and a connector a connector panel which the optical adaptor is to be secured on. Also shown on FIG. 1 is a connector panel 100. The thickness of the connector panel 100 and the dimension of the connection holes are set according to industry standards.
There is a size known as “SC footprint” which is widely used for the housing of a range of optical adaptors including LC, SC of simplex, duplex and other types of optical adaptors. “SC footprint” size of housing is used as a non-limiting example throughout the application to illustrate the present invention.
As an illustrating example, the connector panel 100 has a thickness of a standard wall thickness. The connector panel 100 has at least one hole 103 with a dimension of width 101 by height 102. The optical adaptor, being represented by its housing 110, is plugged through the hole 103 and is secured on the connector panel 100. Although internal components or designs within the optical adaptor 110 may be different among different types of adaptors or connectors, the configuration of the mount plate 120 and the dimension of the optical adaptor 110 (i.e. adaptor housing) is adaptable or adjustable to accommodate the variation to allow interoperability with standard connector panels without loss of the spirit of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the mount plate 120 is provided on an adaptor or a connector 110 so that the mount plate 120 secures the optical adaptor 110 onto the connector panel 100 after the mount plate 120 is inserted through the hole 103 the connector panel 100.
FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of the housing of the SC simplex type optical adaptor without the mount plate and a traditional mount plate separated from the housing.
The housing 110 of an optical adaptor has a placement region 200 for the mount plate 120. The mount plate 120 is snapped onto the placement region 200 and is secured thereon.
The mount plates 120 are shown in FIG. 2 in a normal position view 250 and an upside down view 260. The locking claws 230 are provided on the opposite sides of the mount plate 120. Being fitted into a hole of the connector panel, the locking claws 230 are deformed to get through the hole and restore to an initial position to hold onto the connector panel after getting through the hole. To unlock or release the optical adaptor from the connector panel, the locking claws 230 need to be pressed so that they are flattened onto the optical adaptor to allow the optical adaptor to get through the hole of the connector panel.
FIG. 3 shows the cross-sectional views of the SC simplex type optical adaptor with the traditional mount plate installed on its housing standalone and when connected to the connector panel. The upper view 310 shows the locking claws 230 extends from the mount plate which is fitted on the housing 100 of the optical adaptor. From the lower view 320, it can be seen that the optical adaptor is secured in the hole of the connector panel 100 by the locking claws 230 of the mount plate on the housing 110 of the optical adaptor after the locking claws 230 get through the hole of the connector panel 100.
FIG. 4 shows the progressing cross-sectional views of the SC simplex type optical adaptor with the traditional mount plate installed on its housing being inserted into the connector panel hole.
It can be seen that the locking claws 230 of the mount plate on the housing 110 deforms when being inserted through the hole of the connector panel 100 to get through the hole. The hole of the connector panel 100 flattens and squeezes the locking claws 230. Owing to their resilience, the locking claws 230 have their shape restored from the flattened state back to the initial state after getting through the hole. The open ends of the lock claws 230 are then stand against the connector panel 100 such that the locking claws 230 of the mount plate prevent the optical adaptor from retreating from the hole of the connector panel 100.
FIG. 5 shows the enlarged cross-sectional views of the SC simplex type optical adaptor with the traditional mount plate installed on its housing secured in the connector panel hole.
As shown, there is a significant clearance space 510 between the edge of the hole of the connector panel 100 and the periphery of the adaptor housing 110. This clearance space 510 is necessary for the insertion of the optical adaptor 110 into the connector panel hole. Without this clearance 510, the locking claws 230 of the mount plate 120 even when compressed cannot be cleared to pass through the connector panel hole during insertion. However, precisely because of this clearance 510, rattling of the adaptor housing 110 occurs when the optical adaptor stays inserted in the connector panel hole. This rattling can cause transmitted signal degradations and losses in the connection interface and the problem is more profound with optical signal.
A number of solutions have been proposed to prevent an optical adaptor from wobbling when mounted on a panel through a mount hole thereof. For example, Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3111711 describes an optical adaptor mounting metal fitting (hereinafter referred to as “Japan Fitting”). That optical adaptor mounting metal fitting has a curved engagement, which is used to secure the optical adaptor to the panel by means of small elastic deformation of the curved engagement. However, the curved engagement appears to have a rather small elastic deformation capacity, yielding insufficient spring elasticity.
Thus, in the case where the mounting hole is too small, the curved engagement of the Japan Fitting cannot be deformed and flattened so that it obstructs the optical adaptor from being inserted completely into the mounting and securely fastened. On the other hand, where the mounting hole is too large, the curved engagement is not elastically engaged with the inner surface of the mounting hole and fails to prevent wobbling of the optical adapter.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,200 discloses another type of mounting metal fitting that prevents an optical adaptor from wobbling after mount, which is shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of an optical adaptor with the optical adaptor mounting metal fitting and a perspective view of the optical adaptor mounting metal fitting.
The optical adaptor 600 is a duplex type. The mounting metal fitting 601 has a pair of elastic click engagements 630. It further has a pair of facing side plates extending from either side of a joining plate 620. Each side plate has a first side plate piece 610 at an end adjacent to the joining plate 620 and a second side plate piece 611 at a distal end from the joining plate 620. The first side plate piece 610 provides a rectangular second elastic engagement 612 and the second side plate piece 611 provides a first elastic engagement 613. The rectangular second elastic engagement 612 obliquely extends from a front end of the first side plate piece 610 away from the joining plate and the optical adaptor. The first elastic engagement 613 obliquely extends from a front end of the second side plate piece 611 toward the joining plate 620 and the optical adaptor 600. Hence each side plate has its front end lifted away from the optical adaptor 600 and the fastening of the mounting metal fitting 601 onto the optical adapter 600 is significantly weaken when only the tips 613a are left to be in contact with the optical adaptor 600 at that front end. The stability of the optical adaptor 600 mounted in the hole is too low to be satisfactory.
Furthermore, rattling may also be caused by loosening of the mount plate 120 from the optical adaptor 110. Owing to fatigue of mechanical parts, the mount plate 120 gets loose and the optical adaptor can no longer be fastened to the connector panel 100. Therefore, it is desirable to have a mount plate 120 which can not only fill up the space between the connector panel hole and the optical adaptor but also remain fastened to the optical adaptor 110.